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For years I wondered whether pigs ever frequented Eden Roc, never having seen any. Then they invaded and I would see some every morning. This coincided with when lava was pouring through the forest preserve and towards Pahoa.
I would get up in the morning and wander outside, taking in the vastness of my 1 acre lot and would constantly let my self be surprised by the pigs. One day I was extra stealthy, intently scouring out to the edges of my clearing as I rounded the end of my container, determined not to be made a fool again, only to be rudely awakened by piglets at my feet.
Just as abruptly they left and I haven't seen any since.
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With so many lots being cleared there's influx of pigs, chickens, rats, mice, fleas, flies, etc. to our area homes.
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My brother moved into a house in Kapolei about half way through the build-out. The waves of rats and mice that occurred as the remaining fields were cleared were freakish.
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Upper Puna. I have battled damage for some time. The pigs do migrate, however with covid there was a distinct decline in legal or illegal hunting, and the populations in my area got out of control at two separate properties. I am sure this is the same everywhere. You need to eliminate approx 60% of the existing population annually just to keep the numbers static. Miss a couple of years and do the math. Can't get rid of them quickly enough. The damage is out of control.
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Lots being cleared is probably a factor. The other biggie is the weather. Whenever there are stretches of dryness they come out of the deep forest as their food sources are depleted. It's in between wai'wi guava seasons, (fruits 2 or 3 times a year) so they simply run out of food and come to yards to scavenge and look for short cut grass to roll up like sod and eat the earthworms.
"We're considering investing in electric fencing, but it would be a major undertaking." Fencing does cost thousands, even tens of thousands if you have enough property.
"Hubby ran a Hotwire along the back of our lot which was where they were coming in," And there you go, that's the answer. Running the line doesn't require fencing to be installed but is still work and requires maintenance to keep growing brush from grounding out the line but saves you a boatload of money.
Also pigs are smart. You can get a cage trap, but that only works once against a given family of pigs. The others won't enter after seeing their kids and siblings getting trapped. They also will remember where the angry hunting dogs are but in my experience dogs are not a great match against a herd of pigs. There will be injured or dead dogs too and vet bills if you have compassion for your fur friends. I've found that shooting one of their family members works for a few months too. It's traumatic to them, they remember and stay away for a little while but none of this compares to the electric line. One about 6 inches off the ground and one about a foot and a half. Line attached to stakes set every 20 feet or so.
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Any good ideas for grounding the line here?
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For grounding, I used a metal spike or stake pounded into the earth. Main thing is it needs to be deep enough and it helps if its wet earth. If you only have a couple inches of soil before lava rock, maybe rent a drill or jack hammer? I just found a low spot on my land in in the shade not too far from my water tank overflow.
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Where there is no dirt: pressure-wash a strip of pahoehoe, lay down a solid copper wire (#8 or larger), pour concrete over it. Ten feet long should be plenty. A scrap of PVC to protect the exposed copper "pigtail" is a nice touch, especially if the concrete gets buried by the jungle.
I built one of these to satisfy Telcom ... the installer measured it and proclaimed that it was a Really Good Ground.
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(06-05-2022, 06:36 PM)kalakoa Wrote: Where there is no dirt: pressure-wash a strip of pahoehoe, lay down a solid copper wire (#8 or larger), pour concrete over it. Ten feet long should be plenty. A scrap of PVC to protect the exposed copper "pigtail" is a nice touch, especially if the concrete gets buried by the jungle.
I built one of these to satisfy Telcom ... the installer measured it and proclaimed that it was a Really Good Ground.
I was contemplating doing something similar, but chiseling out a trench first. So the trench isn't necessary?
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Most important thing is contact surface area. A trench merely helps guarantee that the whole thing stays wet, which helps, and it might take less concrete, with the whole thing finished at grade to avoid creating a tripping hazard. Pressure washer is less work than a chisel, and there's bound to be a nice low spot for it.
Same can be done for a house, I think the NEC stipulates 20' of wire in a concrete foundation. There's a whole other thread on this.
